Last updated
3 December 2002

Following the TV 4 News (a major Swedish channel) coverage of the Narconon-
King of Sweden story yesterday, several newspapers carry the story today 6
April 98. The two biggest national papers, Aftonbladet and Expressen, run
it as the major front page story.

"The King and Queen used in propaganda film by religious cult. The Royal
Court says: we don't know how they got hold of the pictures" (Aftonbladet
head line)

"The King does not support this activity. Their majesties do not want
to figure in this kind of context, and has also not been asked for permission"
says Court spokesperson Elisabeth Tarras-Wahlberg to Aftonbladet.

Apparently, the Scn video contains footage from an internal Court meeting,
probably up to 10 years old, according to the Court spokesperson. The King
and Queen were invited to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Narconon Sweden
last year, but declined. Then Narconon asked for a congratulatory cable message
(which the King routinely sends out to organizations celebrating anniversaries),
and got one of those, which is shown in the video.

The Varby Gard (area where Stockholm Narconon is located) chief of police,
Lars Serenander was also shown in the video. He says "Nobody said anything
about Scientology" (Aftonbladet)

Narconon Sweden spokesman Thomas Lillhannus says in Aftonbladet: "We
have apologized to the Court and to the police. The Church of Scientology
will have to cut out the scenes from the Court. He further blames this whole
thing on an american TV team from CoS, and says: "We would never have
approved this video if we'd seen the final result. Somebody from the CoS has
made a f* mistake. There are several incorrect statements in the video."

On top of this, TV 3 news yesterday, and some papers today (I've seen it
in Aftonbladet and Goteborgs-Posten so far) tell about a new book on cults
in Sweden which will be released today, "Att leka med elden" (Playing
with Fire). It's written by Karl-Erik Nylund, a priest who's been studying
cults for years. He calls Scientology "the most dangerous cult in the
world".

(It's the first time here I've seen Scientology mentioned in two different
news items on the same day.)